| Fred Cartwright | 28 Apr 2010 3:35 a.m. PST |
As popularised in the UK by Arthur Scargill and Bobby Charlton! Just got my copy of Battlegames through the post and in the Perry's ad at the back it has a picture of the new Perry Ney figure on horseback with the following caption:-
"Marshall Ney depicted as he was at Waterloo complete with comb-over!"
So assuming the Perry's have got it right did Ney invent the comb over? Of course in earlier times you could sport a powdered wig to hide any alloplecia! |
| kreoseus2 | 28 Apr 2010 3:44 a.m. PST |
I believe someone patented the comb-over. It was in an episode of QI on BBC2 |
| clibinarium | 28 Apr 2010 3:58 a.m. PST |
Like most things I'd be surprised if the Greeks hadn't thought of it.
Also I seem to recall a reference by one of the Roman writers to Caesar carrying around a small comb to comb his hair over his bald bit? |
 Artilleryman  | 28 Apr 2010 4:13 a.m. PST |
Clearly Ney did not want to look like Davout. Pity he couldn't plan and command like him! |
| Private Matter | 28 Apr 2010 4:20 a.m. PST |
Actually cave paintings in the South of France were found to show depictions of middle aged, slightly over weight cave dwellers sporting comb overs. So I don't think Ney invented it but rather practiced this countinually fashionable hair style. Like Ney and countless other men I have found this hair style to greatly impress the ladies with its sauve and debonair appearance, even beating out that other timeless classic: the mullet. |
| Another Account Deleted | 28 Apr 2010 4:45 a.m. PST |
Is it really a "comb over" if you've always styled your hair that way? Is it your fault that all of the underlying hair falls out? :) |
 John the OFM | 28 Apr 2010 5:36 a.m. PST |
The Austrian did, of course, and as usual the French tried to steal the idea and take credit for it. |
 Der Alte Fritz  | 28 Apr 2010 10:30 a.m. PST |
I thought that Julius Caesar was the inventor. |
| christot | 28 Apr 2010 12:46 p.m. PST |
The best comb-over I ever saw was Robert Robinson's; remember him? 60's and 70's TV quiz host (Ask the Family, Top of the Form)..I was coming down a stairwell at the BBC and he was below me…I had this fabulous aerial view of this intricate brylcreemed sworl that wound around his head and like a whirlpool and culminated in a sort of point in the middle…to continue the 1970's theme it looked like a Walnut Whip. |
| Lest We Forget | 28 Apr 2010 1:47 p.m. PST |
According to an American cheeky Web historian, Gribeauval invented it while trying to untie a knot in a bricole. His hair kept falling in front of his face whilst he bent over. However, a supercilious English historian counters that it was invented during preparation of the first Chicken Marengo after someone tripped over the kettle by the campfire. The resulting greasy concoction ended up in the hair of a Consular Guard sergeant and the wind was strong that day. No witnesses from the Consular Guard survived to confirm the story. There is a rare Prussian source discovered by an Englishman with a Germanic name that notes that the Scots got the idea from the Irish who got the idea from the Bavarians who got the idea from a visiting English Colonel that just returned from Russia. |
| JeffsaysHi | 29 Apr 2010 5:15 a.m. PST |
Unless its written in Gothic Sumerian and only available in a secret archive no more than one expert has ever accessed and will not divulge until a publisher agrees to advance a million on a leather 10,000 special limited edition on the subject – your sources are suspect and almost certainly not reliable. |
| SJDonovan | 29 Apr 2010 6:12 a.m. PST |
Did Ney even have a comb-over? It's not how he's generally shown in contemporary prints. A bit receding at the temples maybe but I don't think you could accuse him of sporting a Bobby Charlton. link link For comparison purposes: picture And lest we forget, here's Arthur Scargill: picture And lest our American cousins should feel left out. Here is Donald Trump who has added a bit of natural-looking colour to heighten the effect: picture |
